We’re not just talking about two losses in a row. We’re talking about two humiliating, deeply demoralizing outings in a row for a program that expected to compete for the national championship.

So call it what you will, but, essentially, yes, the son is going to have to consider firing his 72-year-old father.

Monte Kiffin—the architect of the Tampa 2 defense that won the Buccaneers a Super Bowl—is one of the great defensive coaches of his generation. When he told reporters after Saturday night’s loss to the Ducks that USC has to “re-evaluate the whole thing” on defense, did he really mean it? He has coached only slight variations of the Cover 2 defense for decades now. The Trojans have recruited to this defense; as Chip Kelly pointed out last week, they are noticeably smaller on that side of the ball.

A re-evaluation would be one thing. Instituting a new defensive system might take years to accomplish with any real success.

To borrow another phrase the elder Kiffin used on Saturday night, the very thought of taking on such major change on defense must be “mind-boggling” to both father and son.

But the son is the one who has to decide. Does he turn his recruiting focus instead to the sort of large defensive linemen and linebackers who live in the SEC—and have given Oregon’s famous offense more trouble than it tends to find in Pac-12 country? Or does he stand by his old man and look for even faster, sleeker, more versatile players to plug into the Tampa 2?

The Trojans have more smallish guys in zone coverage who, in theory, should be forcing short throws and providing fast, decisive run support. But they sure couldn’t run with—or tackle—the Ducks.

“That defense can be a problem when you don’t have the talent to run it,” said Ronnie Lott, NFL Hall of Famer and all-time USC defensive great.

Lott was distressed throughout as he watched the Oregon game. Blown coverage, he says, allowed quarterback Marcus Mariota to find De’Anthony Thomas alone in the middle of the end zone for the Ducks’ first score, barely a minute into the game. They later scored on the very the same play, with Josh Huff replacing Thomas down the middle—and getting behind the coverage with absolute ease.

USC runs too much Cover 2, according to Lott.

“If you’re throwing a lot of curves,” he said, “people get used to your curveball. If you run Cover 2 all the time, people will exploit that.”

As for Barner’s 321 yards on the ground, well, what else can Lott say?

“That shouldn’t be doable.”

It’s part of a giant problem that needs fixing. This has nothing to do with Monte Kiffin’s age, by the way. Most nights during the season, he’s in his office deep into the night and catching only a few winks of sleep—at a hotel, no less, even though his house is 25 minutes away. In an interview with Sporting News last December, Lane Kiffin put his dad’s typical in-season hours at 5:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.

There are no more available hours in the day to work on the Trojans’ defensive problems.

This is all a pretty sad deal because it’s truly a father-son story. Lane was a ball boy during Monte’s days as an NFL assistant. As a high school quarterback, he regularly accompanied Monte to the office to watch film during the offseason. Both would risk the wrath of Robin Kiffin when Lane stayed up way too late on Mondays watching football at home with his dad.

“I was there the day he was born,” Monte Kiffin said back in December. “I know him better than anybody else, OK?”

Convincing Monte in 2008 to leave Tampa and join him in Tennessee was extremely difficult for Lane.

“Nobody could get him out of Tampa,” he said. “They tried for years—he even had an opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL—but he wasn’t leaving there. He had his house on the beach. My mom loved it. He was in love with Tampa.”

But the old defensive guru left the Bucs after 13 seasons. The question now is: Will he be at USC for a fourth season in 2013?

The Tampa 2 is a bend-but-don’t-break defense; it’s built to surrender lots of yards between the 20s but few touchdowns. But the Trojans are giving up 406.4 yards per game, the most in program history. They’re ranked eighth in the Pac-12 in yards allowed—and only one spot better in points allowed (24.2).

A whole mess of the statistical damage was done by the Oregon and Arizona, but that’s kind of the point. If offenses that are based on speed and spreading the field can have their way with the Trojans, then the Trojans aren’t ever going to win this league.